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Ladies, what kind of sex can you have that ensures you won’t get pregnant, even if they take away birth control? Sex with female-bodied people. Men, what kind of sex can you have that runs no risk of impregnating a woman with limited options to resolve it if she doesn’t want it? Sex with male-bodied people.

If you aren’t gay/lesbian/bisexual/queer we are also proposing a Sex Strike- where women in Virginia go on a sex strike until we make sure that our health, safety, and reproductive freedoms are going to avoid being totally crushed by a patriarchal government. Sex Strikes are a tactic that has been used with success before- see Lysistrata as one example. http://rogueclassicism.com/2011/06/25/latest-lysistrata-comparanda/

Some slogans to stand behind:

Keep from Harm- Use Your Arm!

Get Anal- Not Banal!

Resist! Use Your Fist!

“Out of the Closets and into the Streets”

“Two, Four, Six, Eight! How Do You Know Your Kids Are Straight?”

Ni dios, ni ley, ni marido. Under no god, no law, no husband.

The Virginia Legislature is coming close to passing a slew of new laws which would SEVERLY restrict the rights of women, their reproductive freedom, their safety, and their health. Sounds like all those boring old politicians want to discourage folks from having heterosexual sex- OK! Cool! Let’s have other types of sex! For more information about the proposed legislature and some upcoming events and responses to it, go here: http://wingnutrva.org/2012/02/14/fight-for-virginian-womens-rights/

To avoid the pitfalls of heterosexual sex, join the movement of QUEER SEX. Go on a Heterosexual Sex Strike!

From now….until these shitty pieces of legislation are dead.

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Worried about the idea of a “sex strike”? Think this is sexist? Gonna be sad if your partner won’t have sex with you for a little bit? We understand. Here are a few explanations that might help you understand where we are coming from with this Sex Strike/Turn Queer campaign:

It’s creative, and it’s not just about ‘good men’ v ‘bad men’ or whatever but raising awareness and making a point overall. I don’t think it matters whether your partner is supportive of your rights. If he’s supportive, he’ll support the sex strike. I enjoy sex, but I think women’s reproductive rights are more important and worth fighting for and I would support anyone who chose to fight this way.

From another person: I think the point is that none of our needs should be compromised by legislation. But they are. In the heterosexual male case, it’s a theoretical decrease in something that isn’t really guaranteed in the first place. In the case of women, it’s an extremely practical limitation on whether we get to have both sex lives and jobs and educations, or sex lives without significant risk of death if we get pregnant and something goes wrong, or just regular lives where, if we’re raped, we can have emergency contraception or an abortion and not spend the majority of that year being forced by the state to carry our rapist’s baby.

You might be thinking – “But wait, isn’t a Sex Strike sexist against men?”- Probably can’t get into it all online, but I would just say that in my POV, and that of a lot of folks, sexism is a one way street- because of the institutional powers that support patriarchy and prejudice towards women. Were women to act prejudiced towards men, it would be just that, prejudice. Because there is not an institutional backing in everything from the media, to school, to books, to wages, etc. supporting women.

You might also be thinking- “But wait, I’m in a happy healthy relationship with someone and I don’t want to stop having sex with them”- Then don’t! No pressure! Denying ourselves sex sucks, and can totally be unhealthy. We don’t want anyone to hurt a relationship or really hurt themselves by not having sex. We just want to bring home the idea that sex IS awesome, sex SHOULD be positive and fun, and that right now, in Virginia, that is all being put at serious risk. Refusing to have sex can help bring home that reality to folks who don’t get it yet. Having sex would be much more risky to women if all of these laws get passed, and more women might feel like they can’t have sex then due to the risks (which as some folks point out is probably half of what the religious right wants). And then there is the obvious- you can say you are going on Strike, but just lie. This is not a court of law. Not all of us are in the sort of relationships where a strike on sex would change our partner’s behavior, or be needed to, or be a useful tactic. But there are definitely women out there who have less than supportive partners when it comes to these issues, and having a larger movement that would support them and their push for rights could be useful.

* We would like to add that there are many MANY aspects to safe sex besides the potential for pregnancy. We strongly encourage folks engaging in any sort of sexual relationship to do so consensually, honestly, and with protection to help prevent any STDS/STIs from being transmitted. Queer sex does not mean total safety- there are still needs for condoms, dental dams, gloves, lube, toys, consent, and all kinds of other things to make sure that everyone participating is actually have safe sex- safe for their bodies and their emotions!

**Additionally, this is not meant to tokenize or trivialize queerness or any aspect of LGBTQI identities. There are more queers than you might have even dreamed of! And queerness is not just a choice made in response to the political realm. People are born into all kinds of bodies, with all kinds of genders, and with all kinds of sexual desires and lack of desires. Sometimes those identities and desires are more fluid than other times. We are encouraging people to come out of the closet, embrace their desires and needs, and identify with the identity they feel at home with.

***If you are upset, or offended by this (for reasons other than you being a misogynist or a patriarchical pro-life turd or a homophobe) we are sorry. This is not meant to upset you. Its meant to be part satire, part pushing the envelope, part pushing the fundies’ buttons, and part for real. This is not meant to be the most effective tactic, or the best tactic, or the coolest tactic, or the tactic for everyone. To successfully fight this legislation and a lot of the really oppressive shit that is going on in the world, we need a diversity of tactics. Do the things that you find to be effective, and comfortable to you given your risk level and any other personal considerations. For more on Diversity of tactics- check out the St. Paul Principles: http://wingnutrva.org/2011/11/04/organizing-with-large-coalitions-the-st-paul-principles/

The last thing intended by this concept is to create division in the movement for women in Virginia. If you don’t like it, we are sorry, but we are also not trying to make this feel like something anyone is obligated to be into. If you want to talk about it, lets do it. We’ve tried to make this as un-oppressive and fucked up as possible while still being interesting, but we might have made mistakes so please let us know. But mostly, lets all do what we can to protect our rights to reproductive freedom and sexual freedom and health!